Council-run sports facilities, public toilets, and playgrounds in Bridgend could soon be handed over to third-party clubs and organisations.
Bridgend County Borough Council argued the changes being made to its Community Asset Transfer (CAT) policy will speed up the process perceived as frustratingly slow by interested groups.
It said it can no longer afford to run certain facilities and sees the CATs as a way to maintain and preserve threatened services.
Until now very few clubs, groups or town and community councils have undertaken an asset transfer in the county.
'Trusted partners'
At a cabinet meeting on July 23, cabinet member for communities Richard Young said the fast-track approach would only apply to trusted partners.
He said: “We now have a two-tier system which I think will work to speed up the transfer process.
“For those organisations which have sound financial principles and good governance arrangements, such as community councils, we wouldn’t need a very detailed business plan as there’s very limited risk involved in fast-tracking assets to them.
“Obviously for those looking at an asset transfer who are not as financially sound we would refer back to what we had and expect the detailed business case and other questions to be asked.”
He told councillors one of the catalysts for reviewing the CAT process had been the experience with Bryncethin RFC, the first club to complete an asset transfer in the county.
Cllr Young said: “While it has now become very successful it was quite torturous at the time for a number of reasons.
“This included legal problems we had to work through which did not lend the asset to a quick transition.
“However in reviewing the process we discovered it was quite rigid and a bit unwieldy.”
'Light-touch' approach
Council officers said the CAT process had been based on Welsh Government-suggested best practice but would now move away from that to a “more light-touch approach”.
A report which went before cabinet on Tuesday detailed the advantages of a streamlined process, which include helping the council make more savings more quickly.
However it also pointed out the risk that assets could be returned in a worse condition and then closed.
In the report officers said: “Ongoing policies of fiscal austerity mean that Wales is continuing to face an unprecedented and difficult financial climate for the delivery of local government services.
“It is imperative therefore that the council continues to work in collaboration with voluntary sector organisations to safeguard the services of value to communities, helping to build a prosperous Wales for current and future generations.”
In reviewing the process they said a task and finish group had considered approaches adopted by other local authorities like Carmarthenshire and Neath Port Talbot to community asset transfers.
The changes being implemented include:
- Community groups being issued with all the details surrounding the asset’s condition, operating costs and compliance at the earliest opportunity;
- Model heads of terms and template leases for particular asset groups;
- A list of assets available for community asset transfer will be maintained,
periodically reviewed and updated; - The submission of income and expenditure projections for a minimum of a five-year period will be enough for the majority of community asset transfers but detailed business plans will still be requested for complex projects, and;
- The new approach will mean that the majority of community groups will no longer be expected to produce a full detailed business case.
